


A Bruised Reed

by harrycrewe



Category: Real Housewives RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Regency, Domestic Violence, Gen, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2018-05-07
Packaged: 2019-05-03 09:52:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14566473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harrycrewe/pseuds/harrycrewe
Summary: I binge-watched a lot of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and for some reason that inspired me to write regency AU fic.  Warning for discussion of domestic violence.





	A Bruised Reed

“You will call on me tomorrow, won’t you?” Lady Maloof had asked. And Millie, who had wanted nothing more than to sleep into the afternoon, with her boys in the big feather bed next to her, soft and wriggling like puppies, had pasted on her best smile and said, yes, of course.

She wore her best muslin, white with small yellow flowers, because even relatively informal gatherings at Maloof House were still rather grand, and she arrived as the clock struck at eleven, because Lady Maloof expected punctuality of her guests. To be fair, Millie reminded herself, Lady M. held herself to just as high a standard – perhaps higher – and she was unfailing gracious to the guests that she summoned to her presence. Upon arrival, Millie was guided to the back of the house, where a circle of comfortable chairs and a table heaped with tea, sandwiches, and cakes had already been laid out. It was a beautiful spring day, and the garden was perfectly elegant, full of flowers just coming into bloom. Lady M’s little dog, Jackpot, came running out behind Millie, let out a joyous bark and set himself to catching a butterfly.

It was, Millie thought, amazing what perfection money could buy. Although her own gardens – even if purchased with millions that were nothing to Lady M’s – were just as elegant. But Millie had not grown so old that she had forgotten her childhood in Bristol, packed into a drafty house, three to a bed. Her parents had not been poor, exactly, but neither could she have imagined, then, the kind of wealth that now surrounded her.

As she stood admiring the scene, she heard footsteps behind her, and turning, saw that Lady Vanderpump had arrived, together with her particular friend Mrs. Richards. Lady V was wearing a really rather darling spencer that Millie didn’t think she had seen before, and Mrs. Richards was impeccably attired as always, in gray and green.  Millie then realized that Lady M must have orchestrated the gathering, so that they could all discuss the rather uncomfortable events that had taken place a few nights earlier.

“Is anyone else coming?” She asked Lady M, who frowned slightly.

“Well – Mrs. Kim Richards, of course.” 

There was no need to say more. Mrs. Kim had been staying with her younger sister for several weeks, it would have been impossible not to invite her. And yet Millie was sure that both she and Lady M shared the same thought – if the conversation was to turn delicate, it might be better that the older woman, who was rather prone to flights of fancy – or at other moments, to bouts of hysteria – be absent.

“She is _often_ late,” Millie began to suggest – but no sooner spoken than she heard Mrs. Kim’s distinctly shrill voice in the hall.

Lady M offered a slight, rueful smile, and led her to a seat.

Tea was served, and the conversation turned first, naturally, to the dinner of the night before. It had been excellent, everything that was lovely.  The food, in particular, was much improved since Mrs. Zanuck had found a new cook, and Pandora’s dancing was just divine. Everyone agreed as much, and Lady V. accepted the complements graciously.

Eventually, the conversation wound its way to its unspoken, but nevertheless agreed upon, true subject.

“It _is_ a pity that Mrs. Armstrong couldn’t attend,” said Lady M, “when she does so enjoy a good dance.”

“Well, yes, of course,” Mrs. Richards agreed cautiously. “But perhaps its for the best. Our last meeting was, rather… well.”

Millie sighed. “I may have spoken imprudently, but I had only her best interests at heart.”

“And yet, unless I’m mistaken, you weren’t the target of her displeasure, my dear.”

“No,” Lady V said, “it’s me, which is rather ridiculous. I’ve only ever tried to help the poor girl.”

“She’s hardly a girl,” Mrs. Richards disagreed.

“Well, she is! Age has nothing to do with it.”

“I don’t see how its our problem,” Mrs. Kim Richards said, rather callously, “for all we know, it’s been a misunderstanding.”

“But how could that be,” Millie began…”

“Well I’ve never seen her… well,” Mrs. Richards paused, and in so doing, proved yet again that she had a better head on her shoulders than did her sister. There was no appropriate way to express her current train of thought, it really was better that it remain unspoken.  And Millie was acutely aware of the footman standing just inside the door, and the maid, who had come out to clear the tea service.

Despite this, the conversation continued.

“She did disappear for over six weeks last summer,” her sister Miss Kim’s hands fluttered nervously.

“To Hertfordshire,” Lady Maloof interjected rationally, “she went to Helwick Park, because dear little Kennedy had been ill and needed to recover in peace and country air.” She paused for a moment, “Lady Vanderpump dear, don’t you have family in the area?”

Lady V shrugged her shoulders, elegant in the taffeta spencer – it must just have arrived from Paris, Millie reasoned, because the cut was unusual. Perhaps she could ask Lady V to lend it so that Betsy could make a copy – but then in the next second she discarded the thought, because she and Lady V were not _so_ close, after all, and it wouldn’t do to let her head get any bigger than it already was.

“I do,” Lady V said, “as a matter of fact. My cousin Kitty is settled there, and she writes me every week, without fail. And she’s only eleven miles from Helwick Park. She said that Mrs. Armstrong kept entirely to herself during her stay there, because the doctor thought that little Kennedy might still be contagious. Kitty said that she offended half the neighborhood, declining as many invitations as she did.”

“So it might be true,” Millie said. Beside her on the settee, Mrs. Richards nodded thoughtfully.

“It’s so important, isn’t it,” Miss Kim’s voice seemed to burst out of her, “to have a suitable partner in this world.  Even _no husband_ would be better than one that – than one that torments her so.”

“God forbid,” Lady V. said, quickly, and both Lady M and Mrs. Richards looked rather shocked. “But it is a woman’s place -,” Mrs. Richards said, mildly, “that is, think of the child. And it isn’t as though Mrs. Armstrong has – well, it isn’t like _you,_ Millie dear -”

Millie’s husband had left their home over a year ago, and now lived openly on the continent with a famous ballerina. But he had not attempted to make her life too difficult: his houses remained at her disposal, the children were with her, and their needs were met. Still, it was an unpleasant, queer change, to be forced to rely on the continuing generosity of a man who had utterly betrayed her – who hadn’t even been willing to grant her the dignity of a sham marriage.  None of her friends spoke of it except to censure his conduct. But she knew that perhaps they wondered – especially the ones with happy marriages, like Lady V and Mrs. Richards – what she might have done to drive him away.

It wasn’t like Lady M, either – whose marriage wasn’t exactly happy but who wasn’t exactly dependent on her husband either.  _Her_ husband was a small man –too aware, perhaps, that his wife controlled the purse strings and also had the strength of character he himself lacked – despite his failings, he would never – just as Millie’s own husband had never –

“The truth is that sometimes a wife requires correction,” said Mrs. Richards, but her foolish sister, for once, set her right-

 “No, Kyle, not like that- never like that.”

“Well we don’t know, do we,” said Lady M, “the truth is, we’ve never seen…”

“If she leaves him, she’ll have nothing. Think of sweet Kennedy…”

“Think of Mrs. Armstrong! How would she survive?”

“She would always have a place with her friends,” Lady V said firmly. “I offered her my home. You know that.”

But living with Lady V would be a humiliation, after having been lady of one’s own house for so long. Even if Lady V was kind-hearted, her friend would become nothing better than a maiden aunt, forced to do patchwork to show her gratitude for her bed and her crust. And society would utterly reject her…

“We don’t know,” said Mrs. Richards, apparently feeling herself to be on firmer ground now. “We only know what she’s told us. She can be rather hysterical. It isn’t our place, we ought to reserve judgement.”

Millie turned the question over in her heart. Did she believe Mrs. Armstrong, when she told them that her husband had beaten her? And what was their responsibility, as her friends?

She had lived in Bristol once. She didn’t know where Mrs. Armstrong had come from, exactly, but she suspected that it had not been a happy home. Last year, when Millie had feared that her husband would leave her destitute, Mrs. Armstrong had sat silently by. And now she could do nothing but sit silently while Mrs. Armstrong made her own decision.

Lady M’s garden was very lovely, and very peaceful. Jackpot, the little dog, was still running in the grass, and far at the edge of the lawn, Lady M’s young sons were walking with their nanny. The cost of maintaining such a property was very high.  Every one of them knew exactly how much. They could have recited the figures as if they were tattooed on their wrists, or etched into their bone.

**Author's Note:**

> So basically Real Housewives is like modern day Jane Austen. I'm not kidding. Its a lot of rich people comparing their fortunes, drinking too much, gossiping, and pairing off in a way that's often (ambiguously) as much about money as it is about love. Basically this show convinced me that No, living in Regency England would not have been awesome and also, our society still has a long way to go.


End file.
